Galilea Montijo speaks with fewer tears now, but the memory still weighs. His son Mateo, then 11 years old, told him that he wanted to go live with his father. The host describes it as a stage of “dead in life.”
The host and Fernando Reina were married for 11 years and announced their divorce by mutual agreement in March 2023. They had Mateo in 2012. After the separation, they maintain a cordial relationship for the well-being of their son.
For a couple of years, Mateo—who aspires to be a professional soccer player—has lived in Acapulco with his father. Galilea resides in Mexico City. They see each other often, but she can’t get over the absence.
Confession in “Divine Nets”
In the program of which he is a part, Montijo confessed that this situation will never stop hurting him. Not hearing her son at home makes her feel “dead in life.”
He said that the dynamic of coming and going has been settling in, but it was very painful when Mateo, about to turn 12, told him that he wanted to live with his father. She remembered that he explained to her that her happiness at that moment was with her father, and that she could visit him whenever she wanted.
Although Montijo pleaded no, in the end he respected the decision. He reflected: children are like leagues, you let them go and you feel like they are leaving, but they always come back.
“He knows he has his mom 24/7, but the moment I see a baby, I say ‘what time did mine leave, what time did mine grow up?'”
He was honest: he can’t believe time has passed so quickly. It seems like yesterday when I depended on her, when I changed her diaper and gave her baby food. “For me the empty nest is terrible, it started at 11.”
She felt judged
Galilea confessed to her colleagues that she felt judged after revealing that her son wanted to go with his father. She thought people would see her as a bad mother. However, his therapist explained that Mateo’s decision was more linked to his desire to accompany his father, who lives with one of his children.
“Due to a situation that happened, I feel that Mateo felt very responsible for taking care of his father and the therapist also told me so”
Without holding back her tears, the driver reiterated that when her son left she felt like she was literally dying. “For me it was… I felt like I was dying, without Mateo I felt like I was dying and I was walking like a zombie,” he revealed.
